Initiating Time
by TheDetectiveBenson
Summary: The story behind all those framed pictures. Set during Ace. One-Shot, as of right now.


**A/N: First fanfiction ever. Cool. Here's to hoping it doesn't fail:) Review!**

**Set during Ace.**

**If you pause this scene just right, you can see one of the framed pictures of Elliot kissing Olivia on the cheek, which always made me laugh considering how they only hugged twice ever... and thus, the inspiration for this story.**

**I don't own any of these characters. If I did, they'd be dating.**

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"Elliot, this is ridiculous."

"All that seething does not a convincing wife make, Benson."

Elliot would take the sound of her hairbrush hitting against the bathroom door as her response.

They had spent the past half day preparing to be the ones to go undercover in order to take down an entire Bulgarian baby-smuggling ring. And perpetually playing the married couple, they would have to cover their pretend home in pictures of themselves living the picturesque life, minus one thing: a baby. Much to the duo's chagrin, that meant taking pictures of playing house with one another.

Elliot Stabler had the camera all set up and on a self-timer, to save themselves from the mortification of having a make-shift photo shoot with their Captain or, god forbid, Munch on the other side of the lens. It had taken him no time at all to get dressed to play his undercover role of Glenn Butler, and he had now spent the better part of twenty minutes waiting for his partner to emerge the bathroom as his pretend wife so they could take these damned pictures before sunset, and be ready for the arrival of their unsuspecting perp tomorrow.

"You know, Liv, by the time you're done in there, that baby we're waiting on will be sending in college applications."

With that, the door opens and Olivia steps out. She was dressed in what could only be called a "fancy" blouse, embellished with gems along the neckline and a necklace with a massive stone on it. Other than the dressy clothes, her makeup was only slightly heavier than she usually wore it, and her hair fell, neatly brushed, to her shoulders.

"It took you twenty minutes to do _that_?" Elliot realized how harsh it sounded about a half second too late, but Olivia only laughed.

"You're a real charmer, you are. How on earth are you single after three months of the bachelor life?"

Elliot rolled his eyes, "I didn't mean it like that, Liv… just that you hardly look any different than normal. 'Normal' being beautiful. I half expected you to come outta there coated in make-up. Thankfully, I can tell you're still my Benson."

"_Your_ Benson, huh? Good recovery, Ace."

Mercifully, there were enough pictures taken of them over the years that the only thing they needed was something to resemble a recent "couples" photo. Elliot had set everything up so that their background would be the woods behind the balcony of their ornate play-house. He just needed to get his partner to focus. She was a great cop, but the current goal wasn't something either of them took too seriously. Elliot couldn't believe Cragen sent them out to do something as goofy as pose for a camera. But, their pretend had to be believable. Like a child, Olivia was already distracted from their laughable task and was pawing through a bookshelf of movies and trinkets.

"Would you c'mere?" Elliot pleaded, "You'll break something and neither of us get paid nearly enough to replace any of these things."

"Don't get your boxers in a twist, Stabler. I'm just trying to find something for us to watch later." Olivia crossed her arms indignantly and he couldn't help but think about how cute her unintentional pout was.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Can we _please_ just get this over with?"

"Fine, but when we're watching a chick flick later, you're just going to have to deal with it." Olivia's tone was serious for such a trivial subject.

"I could watch paint dry as long as it came with your lovely commentary." Elliot snickered, knowing that if he were to challenge her right now, they'd never get anything done.

Glancing over his shoulder, he noticed the movement of the sun and the fact that if they didn't hurry this up, they'd be taking pictures by moonlight. Elliot waved his hand, beckoning for her to follow him out onto the balcony to which, thankfully, she obliged. Olivia stood in front of the camera as he tried to get everything adjusted. Setting the timer for ten seconds, Elliot ran from his place behind the camera to standing next to his partner. Unsure of what they were supposed to do, they just stood shoulder-to-shoulder, caught off guard by how soon the flash came.

Olivia turned to him, "Okay, so there's absolutely no way that worked."

"I wasn't sure what to do." Elliot attempted to explain himself but was cut off.

"It's a couple-y picture. You're supposed to be romantic, El. You're the guy. You gotta initiate," She deadpanned like it was just blatantly obvious.

"Olivia Benson, how sexist of you!" Elliot barked at the thought. Like she would hold back from initiating a romance. Or anything, for that matter. No, Olivia would never be restrained by such a gender role. Nonetheless, he knew what she meant and went to start the time on the camera again as she remained, backlit by the sun with her arms crossed, smirking at the man she'd spent the past decade alongside with so little physical contact.

Again, he ran from behind the camera to her side, this time throwing his arm around her waist, bringing her close to him. His heart sped up. He looked over at her to see her flash a brilliant grin for the camera, but as soon as the shutter at finished sounding, she turned to him with a look of amused disappointment.

"What was wrong that time?"

"You call that initiating romance, Stabler?" Olivia poked playfully at him, "If that's your idea of passion, I'm feeling kind of bad for your ex-wife right about now!"

If she didn't look so damn stunning in front of this sunset, he might've been offended.

With the timer audibly clicking for the third time, he took his place next to her, once more pulling her in. Only this time, his lips danced up her neck to land on her cheek, just in time for the camera to capture her smile break open into a full laugh that stopped just as suddenly as it started.

"Did I get it right that time, Benson?" Elliot teased, one eyebrow raised.

Olivia's eyes caught his, and darkened. "I think you can do better than that."

The air around them turned solid as he held her stare, blue on brown. Without a word, he pulled away and world started once more as he set the timer for the fifth time in a row. This time, he didn't run, but it seemed to her like he was back at her side in a second. She faced the camera, waiting for him to move towards her cheek once more. Instead, with a slow force, he reached his hand out and curled his fingers under the far side of her jaw, pulling her to face him. She had yet to make a complete about-face, but he wouldn't wait a second longer. With a low growl ripping up his throat, he covered her mouth with his. The hand that wasn't on his partner's jaw fell down to her waist, drawing her into him.

Time stopped.

Just as her own hands found their way to his neck, the flash of the camera jerked them out of the moment.

They stood out there on the balcony together, him out of breath and her with trembling hands, in the realization of what had just happened. Olivia's eyes lowered to her feet. Carefully, so opposite of the way he initiated their kiss, he lifted her chin for her to look at him and dropped his forehead to hers, placing a soft peck onto her nose. Olivia smiled.

"How's about we go watch that chick flick, now?" Elliot asked, brushing back a stray piece of his partner's hair.

"I could watch paint dry as long as it came with you."


End file.
